Man attempts to rob La Grange bank

The Lenoir County Sheriff's Office took a man into custody who allegedly brandished a pencil at staffers in the little bank in downtown La Grange Wednesday.

The Free Press

LA GRANGE – A local man was placed in the custody of the Lenoir County Sheriff's Office Wednesday after allegedly attempting to rob the little bank downtown.

Warren Stidham, 22, of a group home at 202 E. Railroad St., walked into the South Caswell Street bank around 3:50 p.m. and demanded a teller give him money, according to an LCSO news release.

Stidham was brandishing what appeared to be a weapon -- it turned out to be a pencil -- in a "threatening manner."

Bank staffers "recognized that the man may have been suffering from a drug impairment or had a mental disability," the news release stated.

Staffers were able to calm Stidham down and get him to leave the bank. The alarm was activated once he left and deputies arrived a short time later.

They took Stidham into custody "without incident," according to the release.

He was being questioned as of Wednesday night, and information on charges was not immediately available.

David Anderson can be reached at 252-559-1077 or David.Anderson@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at DavidFreePress.

FROM INITIAL REPORTS:

LA GRANGE — Lenoir County deputies responded to an incident at the little bank in La Grange on Wednesday after a developmentally challenged man reportedly walked in and pretended the pencil in his pocket was a gun.